Ripping Across CO WY SD ND MN

We departed Glacier Basin campground in Rocky Mountain National Park Tuesday Aug 21 about 8:30 am, an early start for us.  We negotiated the narrow streets of downtown Estes Park and dropped down off the Front Range through the Big Thompson Canyon.  

Big Thompson Canyon

We pumped a little diesel in Fort Collins and continued north and crossed into Wyoming.  We had 3 days to get to Ely MN, 1200 miles north and east, so we needed to make some miles. However, when we spotted the Outpost Truck Stop in Lusk WY, it seemed pretty inviting, even though we had only driven about 230 miles.  Lusk had a good cellular data signal so we spent the night there with the big rigs.

Camp at Outpost Truck Stop in Lusk WY

It's a long straight road

That's one big bovine!

Welcome to South Dakota

This tandem semi-trailer passed us and gave us a bit of a thrill as he wobbled on by. Click HERE to see video of the wobbly semi.  

Wobbly truck

These folks seem really excited about arriving in North Dakota

Extra long and extra wide load

We spent Wednesday evening at the Walmart in Mandan ND just west of Bismarck after a 445 mile day. 

Camp Wally World in Mandan ND

Long load

Welcome to Minnesota

Paul Bunyan lives in a town park in Akeley MN

We spent Thursday night in Hibbing MN after another long drive of 403 miles.  Hibbing is most notably the birthplace of Bob Dylan.

Camp Supercenter in Hibbing MN

Faithful readers will know that we spend a few nights in Walmarts when we are trying to make some miles.

Click HERE to hear a cute tune "Living at Walmart" by Pat Pepin.

We finally arrived in Ely MN, one our favorite places, and set up at Fall Lake Campground in the Superior National Forest for 5 nights. Here we will rest and regroup for our Boundary Waters trip.

Dorcas and Matilda at Fall Lake

We usually eat at the Chocolate Moose at least once every time we are in town and were appalled to find it was closed and for sale.  Egads!

The Chocolate Moose is for sale! Oh no!!!

A controversy has been brewing in paradise for some time.  Late last year the Interior Department concluded that the two expired leases held by a Chilean-owned company, Twin Metals Minnesota, should be reinstated for copper and nickel mining near the border of the Boundary Waters. This reversed a decision made at the end of the Obama administration, which rejected the leases after the Forest Service concluded that a mine there “posed an inherent potential risk” that threatened “serious and irreplaceable harm” to the wilderness.  Then, in January, the Trump administration scaled back a review of the impact of prohibiting mining on thousands of acres of Forest Service land near the wilderness. That was followed, this month, by the Interior Department reinstating those two expired Twin Metals leases. Now, the Trump administration says those leases must be renewed once terms and conditions are worked out.

Locals' opinions are mixed. The area has always been an active mining region, but a lot of revenue is also generated by tourism and the paddle sports industry.  You can read more HERE.

Tomorrow we will put in on Lake One for a 14 day wilderness camping trip in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.  During that time we will be totally cut off from all cellular and internet communications.  Stay tuned for a trip report of that adventure in a few weeks.

These parting photos are from 2007, the last time we put in at Lake One

Dorcas caught a nice Northern Pike

Myron fishing solo on a misty morning

A glorious Boundary Waters sunset 

Southbound to Colorado Springs - Goodness Gracious Great Balls of Ice!

We had a relatively short drive ahead of us today, so we dragged our feet a bit and hung out at Camp FMCA until about 1:30.  Our drive south on WY 59 from Gillette was pleasant and uneventful.  I suspect it was just in my mind, but the coach seemed to run better than it ever had before.  Or maybe it was the 24 mph tail wind.  Our route was a backtrack from our route last week, and we again travelled that desolate track from Wright to Douglas where there is no fuel for 75 miles.

I love pictures of the MoHo

I continue to be impressed with the fantastic state rest areas in Wyoming.

Wyoming Rest Area

We wanted to spend the night somewhere near the WY/CO border, perhaps at a rest area or visitor center, but all the rest areas were posted no overnight parking.  There were no Walmarts that allowed overnight parking anywhere along our route.  Dorcas started looking online for a campground and found Last Chance Camp in Cheyenne.  Dorcas called and found out they wanted $40.00 for one night to dry camp in a grass field.  SAY WHAT????? It turns out that Cheyenne Frontier Days is happening this week and demand was high. The lady at the camp said we just had to come.  They had a free shuttle to the largest rodeo in the world!  Surely it was on our bucket list!  No thanks!  Finally I went online and discovered that Sierra Trading Post in Cheyenne offered free overnight parking.  It was only a few miles off our route and turned out to be a fantastic stop.

Welcome to Cheyenne

Sierra Trading Post is a large mail order outfitter store that originally sold closeout and discounted items.  They were founded in Sparks NV in 1986, but moved their corporate headquarters, warehouse and fulfillment center to Cheyenne in 1992.  They offer free overnight parking at their fulfillment center and warehouse here.  A retail store is next door, so we dropped in and bought a few trinkets.





We crossed back into Colorado on Monday morning and stopped in Ft. Collins and pumped 61 gallons of relatively cheap diesel.





We passed through Denver a little before noon.  We elected to take I-25 directly south through the middle of town, rather than take an outer loop (toll road).  The traffic was light and smooth, and we had no difficulty. Well, Dorcas did do a lot of needless sucking, hissing and squealing.  Finally she just shut her eyes.

Denver is a hazy town

Bronco Stadium at Mile High, aka Mile High Stadium

Myron, look!  No I didn't mean to actually look!

We arrived at Colorado Springs KOA Holiday in Fountain CO (EL 5610') around 2:00, our home for the next 7 nights.  While here we will attend a rally hosted by Country Coach International, the national owners club for our coach.

The local weather forecast was for a serious thunderstorm storm with golf ball sized hail. About 4:00 it struck with a vengeance.  There was high wind, lightning and hail.  We watched the warnings on local TV and followed the progress of the storm on the internet as we hunkered down.

We are parked just a little north of Buttes,  at the edge of the tornado warning zone

Water about 6" deep was running across our site.  Thankfully it was flowing towards Fountain Creek and not back from the creek.

Should we build and Ark?

After the storm:

This guy's sewer hose was shredded

A neighbor's camp in disarray. Mayhem!

We are parked on the banks of Fountain Creek.  TV reports reported serious flooding on Fountain Creek in Manitou Springs, about 15 miles upstream from here.  I called the KOA office several times to try and find out if we were at risk for flooding and should move, but the calls never went through.

Fountain Creek after the storm

Kamp KOA the morning after the storm

The morning after the storm Dorcas crawled up on the roof of the coach to check for damage.  There were about a dozen holes and cracks in our air condition covers.  Two waste tank vent covers were slightly damaged, and there was some damage to the LNB housing on our satellite antenna.  Luckily there was no major damage and no damage to the roof itself.  I knew the air conditioner covers were brittle and probably needed to be replaced anyway.  I will mend them with some duct tape until I can get replacements.  As far as I can tell the satellite dish is still functioning normally.  Looking back, I should have put it in the stowed position before the storm.  The Honda, rooftop storage carrier and the boat seem to be fine.

My AC covers sure are dirty!

One of 2 broken sewer vents.  The other 2 vents were unscathed. 

More AC cover damage

The metal plate is where I mended a previous hole from a falling limb

I think the damage to the satellite dish is superficial 

I survived the storm!  So I'm not afraid of you!

FMCA at Gillette Wyoming

On Sunday July 15 we left Colorado and headed north into Wyoming.  Diesel is about 20 cents cheaper in Colorado than Wyoming, so we topped off with 73 gallons in Fort Collins CO before crossing the state line.  This day was rainy and cool with temps topping out in the mid 50s.  It was a refreshing change.  We stopped at the Southeast Wyoming Welcome Center on I-25, which is perhaps the nicest state welcome center we have ever visited.  There are some very nice exhibits, and they had free coffee and fast wi-fi.

Bootleg photo from the internet

Dorcas with an original American RV

Giving my knee a break

Big Buffalo on I-25

At Douglas WY we saw a sign that said "Caution Cattle Drive on Access Road". What???  Well, shortly we came up on the cattle drive.



Click HERE to see a video of the cattle drive.  Leaving Douglas WY we saw this sign on WY 59 north towards Gillette.

I'm glad we have a 135 gallon tank

We stopped for lunch at Penny's Diner in Bill WY.  This is pretty much all there is on the 75 mile stretch between Douglas WY and Wright WY.

Penny's Diner

Today was National Ice Cream Day.  Dorcas had a sundae. 

Downtown Bill Wyoming

In the afternoon we arrived at the Cam-Plex Multi-Event Facilities in Gillette for a gathering of FMCA's (Family Motor Coach Association) 98th International Convention and RV Expo.  The Cam-Plex is a huge event and entertainment facility.  Among other things they host the national High School rodeo championship.

We have attended ~10 FMCA national conventions since we began RVing in 2004.  In the past we have always chosen not to purchase an electric site and have relied on our generator and solar to get by.  When we registered for this event we signed up for no amenities.  However, as we followed the weather forecasts, we were concerned that it might be too hot to leave Matilda in the coach for long periods during the day, so we upgraded to 50A electrical service.

Camp Gillette

There are approximately 1800 RVs attending this convention.  There are hundreds of very informative seminars, commercial vendors and live entertainment.

Dorcas and I signed up to volunteer with the security crew. We each performed about 10 hours manning security posts and helping lost and confused campers.

Attending the security volunteers meeting

Dorcas and I attended the following seminars:

• Early Morning Workout (daily)
• Aqua-Hot Troubleshooting and Maintenance Tips
• Clean out that Closet and Have More to Wear
• Better Diesel Driving Through Silverleaf
• Suspensions Roundtable - Ride and Handling
• RV Rooftop Air Conditioner Maintenance
• Understanding and Testing RV Air Brakes
• Top 10 Maintenance Tips Every RVer Should Know
• Cummins Engine Maintenance
• Cummins Onan Generator Operation and Maintenance
• Insider Cleaning Tips for your Home on Wheels
• Understanding Absorption Refrigeration
• Pet Safety Technology for RVs
• Orthopedic Principles and Applications
• Purge, Purge, Purge (this seminar refers to things in the coach, not an eating disorder)
• Improving RV Refrigerator Performance in Hot Weather
• Campbell County Sheriff's Office K9 Demonstration
• Canada’s Eastern Atlantic Provinces

We also attended these other special events:

• Coffee and Doughnuts each morning
• FMCA Ladies' Luncheon
• Diesel RV Club Chapter Meeting and Chuckwagon Pizza
• Ice Cream Social
• Volunteers Dinner

There were four nightly concerts, and we attended them all.   Thomas Michael Riley from Austin TX performed country, western and Americana tunes.

New Odyssey, aka "3 Men and 30 Instruments" performed a number of pop tunes primarily from the sixties.  All three members play horns, keyboards, percussion and strings, often playing several instruments simultaneously.

Towards the end of the show the lead drummer donned a Sgt Pepper uniform, and the band performed the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.  The uniform was outfitted with percussion devices such that every time he slapped his knee, stomped his feet, smacked his chest, etc. it played a different percussion effect. Really cool!  I enjoyed it to so much that we actually spent $$$ for their DVD.  Click HERE to see a short clip of the percussion suit.

The Flashback Boyz performed 50s and 60s pop hits.









"Ricky Nelson Remembered" featured Gunnar and Matthew Nelson, the identical twin sons of the late teen idol Ricky Nelson.  They played all Ricky's hits and told stories about growing up with Ricky Nelson and Ozzie and Harriet.  They dropped a lot of names.  They talked about their next door neighbor Uncle George (George Harrison) and the long-haired singer that hung out at the house (Bob Dylan). Their baby sitter was Mama Cass Elliot. Their mother is the sister of Mark Harmon, Leroy Jethro Gibbs of NCIS fame.  They put on a really great show.

Gunnar Nelson

Matthew Nelson

Gunnar and Matthew

We could have had our photo taken with the brothers, but it seemed kinda cheesy. 

In addition to seminars and entertainment we had some service performed.  Roadmaster cleaned, lubed and rejuvenated our tow bar.  It was a mess and had seen little maintenance since before we went to Alaska last summer.  Hendersons' Line-Up Brake and RV Inc, a highly regarded RV suspension company from Oregon, performed a chassis inspection.  All was well underneath, but they did make some suggestions about suspension upgrades and modifications that would improve handling and safety.

Finally I had my alternator replaced.

Brandon trying to remove the alternator pulley.  No go. 

Faithful readers will remember that my alternator has not been functioning properly since we left home, and probably for some long while before that.  It was producing only about 12.1-12.3 volts, enough to limp along and run the chassis systems, but not enough to charge the staring battery.  I had ordered a new alternator, and it was delivered at the convention on Thursday.  I had considered replacing it myself but, in hindsight, it was a good thing I didn't.  There were several companies here that were performing service, and I scheduled work with Spartan Chassis to replace the alternator on Saturday.  The new alternator is supplied without a pulley, so the pulley on the original alternator needed to be removed and installed on the new alternator.  Brandon from Spartan Chassis spent about 45 minutes trying to remove the pulley without success.  No amount of pulling, pounding, lubing or cursing worked.  He finally gave up and suggested that the Cummins folks were doing repairs, and maybe they would have better luck.  Afraid that time was running out, I quickly biked over to the Cummins truck.  It turns out they were able to get to me pretty quickly.  Stanley came over and quickly removed the old alternator, but then he too was unable to remove the pulley.  Finally he decided to carry it back to their trailer and get some "more heads" to solve the problem.  When I went over there Stanley the mechanic, Bob the service manager and Pete the engineer were all working on our alternator.  Finally with the help of a propane torch and a heavy-duty gear puller, they were successful, but not without some damage to the pulley.  They buffed out the nicked pulley and assured me it would not damage the serpentine belt. As Stanley was putting it all back together he noticed that the seal on the belt tensioner was cracked and suggested that it be replaced as well.  I made a quick dash to NAPA for the part, and Stanley replaced that part as well.  When done I fired up the coach, the alternator voltage registered 14.1 volts.   YEAH.  I'm very glad this worry is behind me.  Spartan Chassis did not charge for their failed attempt and the labor charge for Cummins was only for 2 hours.  Considering that, and the fact that I was able to get it fixed on-site, I guess things worked out pretty well.

Stanley of Cummins Inc trying to remove the alternator pulley.  He had a bigger hammer.  No go. 

New alternator with pulley removed.  Finally. 

Ironically the damage to the pulley was caused by the gear puller, not the sledge hammer.

New alternator with damaged pulley

See my shiny new alternator and serpentine belt tensioner

Success!

Pretty graphics on the local Supercenter

Freightliner also produces chassis for the motor home manufacturers.  This model is designed for minimal wind resistance.  Wear goggles. House is extra. 

Fancy Americana paint job on the Freightliner chassis.

This is a Spartan chassis

Would you call this a recumbent bike?

I enjoyed watching the Outlaw LED folks load their Jeep

Today, Sunday July 22, we leave Gillette and double back south to Colorado.  The forecast today predicts highs in the mid 70s and a 22 MPH wind from the north.  Wow a rare good tail wind!  We expect to spend Sunday night somewhere on the road and arrive at our next and final rally on Monday in Colorado Springs.  Dorcas and I and the coach are all healthy.  Life is good again. Stay tuned.